The invention relates to a recording and/or reproducing apparatus adapted to receive a record carrier and to hold the record carrier in an operating position, the recording and/or reproducing apparatus including a transponder communication station having a station transmission coil for the contactless communication with a record-carrier transmission coil combined with the record carrier. The station transmission coil is planiform and has a first side facing the record-carrier transmission coil and a second side remote from the record-carrier transmission coil. A holding mechanism holds the station transmission coil and extends mainly away from the second side of the station transmission coil.
Such a recording and/or reproducing apparatus is known from the patent document WO 98/44499 A1. The known recording and/or reproducing apparatus is adapted to receive a record carrier tape accommodated in a cassette, the record carrier tape being a magnetic tape provided with a plurality of parallel juxtaposed tracks which extend in the longitudinal direction on-screen display the tape and in which data can be stored with the aid of a multi-track magnetic head.
In such magnetic-tape cassettes it is common practice to accommodate a solid-state memory, preferably a semiconductor memory, for example in order to enable additional data specific to the magnetic-tape cassette as well as additional data specific to the magnetic tape to be stored in a simple manner. In this connection reference is made to, for example, the patent document EP 0 373 718 B1. From said patent document a construction is known in which the only contact-bound communication with the solid-state memory is possible via cassette-mounted terminal contacts.
However, in the meantime so-called transponder systems have become customary on a large scale in the field of storage technology. For such transponder systems reference is made, for example, to the patent document U.S. Pat. No. 5,345,231 A.
In the course of further developments, carried out by the applicant, on the known recording and/or reproducing apparatus as disclosed in the patent document WO 98/44499 A1, the demand has arisen to equip such a recording and/or reproducing apparatus with a transponder communication station designed for contactless communication with a transponder combined with a cassette. In the course of these developments a constructional concept and design were pursued by means of which always a proper and faultless contactless communication is guaranteed.
It is an object of the invention to guarantee, in a recording and/or reproducing apparatus as defined herein, a reliable communication between a transponder communication station provided in the recording and/or reproducing apparatus and a transponder combined with a record carrier which is in its operating position in the recording and/or reproducing apparatus by constructionally simple means.
Owing to the provision of the characteristic features in accordance with the invention it is achieved in a constructionally simple manner that the station transmission coil of the transponder communication station is held at an optimally small distance from a record-carrier transmission coil combined with a record carrier which is in its operating position, which is attributable to the advantageous construction of the holding means, which do not require any more space than the space which is available anyway between the station transmission coil and the carrier transmission coil.
In a recording and/or reproducing apparatus in accordance with the invention the station transmission coil may, for example, consist of a coil wire wound to a flat shape, which is, for example, glued to a table-like holder or to a bounding surface of a turret-like holder. However, it has proved to be very advantageous when a recording and/or reproducing apparatus in accordance with the invention, in addition, has a station transmission coil formed by a printed circuit accommodated on a base plate. In this way, a constructionally very simple, reliable and non-aging solution is obtained.
In a recording and/or reproducing apparatus in accordance with the invention having a station transmission coil formed by a printed circuit it has proved to be very advantageous when, in addition, at its side which is remote from the station transmission coil the base plate is connected to a holding plate and the holding plate forms a part of the holding means. This results in a very stable construction. Moreover, this guarantees a particularly stable fastening of the station transmission coil.
In a recording and/or reproducing apparatus in accordance with the invention having a holding plate it has proved to be very advantageous when, in addition, inside the station transmission coil, in the form of a printed circuit, the base plate has a first passage of given cross-sectional dimensions, and the holding plate has a second passage which is substantially concentric with the first passage and whose cross-sectional dimensions are smaller than the cross-sectional dimensions of the first passage, as a result of which the holding plate has a free peripheral portion, which is not covered by the base plate, and the holding means include a holder case having a bottom wall and at least one side wall connected to the bottom wall, as well as a peripheral wall connected to the at least one side wall and projecting laterally outward from the at least one side wall, and from the side of the base plate the holder case is passed through the base plate and the holding plate at the location of the first passage and the second passage, and the peripheral wall of the holder case engages with the free peripheral. In this case, it has further proved to be advantageous when, in addition, the holding means include a holding block mounted on a chassis of the storage apparatus, which holding block, at its end which remote from the chassis, has a flat bounding surface and has a central passage, which starts at the flat bounding surface, and the holding plate lies on the flat bounding surface and the holder case is accommodated in the central passage. These measures have the great advantage that in the case of a fault and a defective station transmission coil the station transmission coil can be replaced in a simple manner.
In view of a simple mounting of the holding means it has proved to be very advantageous when a fixing screw is provided to secure the holding means to the chassis, which screw acts in the area of the bottom wall of the holder case with one end and in the area of the chassis with the other end in a recording and/or reproducing apparatus in accordance with the invention having a holder case. This guarantees a particularly reliable holding by the holding means in the recording and/or reproducing apparatus in accordance with the invention, while in addition a simple exchangeability of the complete holding means is achieved.
The above-mentioned as well as further aspects of the invention will become apparent from the embodiment described hereinafter by way of example and will be elucidated with reference to this example.